Unfaithful Tales
by JohnnyLover-1963
Summary: Samantha Reese  Cop of 21 Jump Street  spends quality time with the Curtis boys.
1. Chapter 1

The road was dark and the windows to the car were slightly damp from the rains of the night before. Her hands gripped firmly onto the steering wheel, letting the car ease onto the road without slipping on wet cement and small round puddles carved into the black stone. Everything was new here, nothing was the same, not even the law. Transferring to Tulsa, Oklahoma Jump Street program had seemed like the best idea at the time, but now that she had experienced it for herself; she wasn't quite sure she wanted to be an undercover police officer after all. Sure enough, she missed her friends, ex-fiance, and fellow workers back in Vancouver, but that wasn't enough to pull her away from her new found love. All these years of running from her emotions, chasing unfulfilled dreams, she simply gave up. It was almost impossible to deny that she may have possibly fallen under a spell, one of the cruelest spells of them all; love. A small but very, very powerful word. Any woman would kill to be blinded by love's unfaithful tales, to be trapped in a tower awaiting her kiss, no not a kiss, her prince; She'd be waiting for her prince. Though her love may not be true, she refused to go back home, well at least, she refused to go back to her old home. 

Dwelling on memories and unhealed scars, she brought the car to a stop in front of a small house. The colors were plain and a rusty old fashioned truck sat just a few feet beyond the broken gate in a makeshift driveway. Shingles from the room swooped down just over the edge and rested on a simple vein of life, formally known as plaster. Normally you'd expect a house this old or rather worn down to be tilted in some way, but it wasn't. The earth underneath it as well as the foundation of the house must have been well structured enough to keep it evened out from top to bottom, or horizontally. It was almost exactly as she had expected it to be.

All the lights were on in the house and the front door was wide open with only the torn screen behind it to protect the contents of the house from intruders. But they must not have minded that, considering the only people that ever wanted to come over here were the cops and their friends who they considered family. Walking along the wide gray stoned path up to the porch, she stopped, glancing back at the yard. Nearly half of the space was engulfed with dark, all except the once straight blotch that seemed to be infected with light coming from the inside lamp. Small patches of grass here and there gave the place a sense of color and vegetation, so it wasn't all bare. Surprisingly the house gave her a feeling of exception. Though she only knew one of the boys that lived inside. She still felt welcomed, like this was where she was meant to be at this very time. Maybe it was, no one could really tell; especially not her.

Soon she made her journey up the two steps that separated the porch from the ground and took a deep breath. It seemed as though her world was clouding up right in front of her, she couldn't see anything; no future, no hope, no life. An exaggeration most definitely, and an irrelevant one at that. One moment ago this was her future home, but now it was nothing but a dark pit where she would lose all her dreams? Impossible. Her mind was simply playing games with her, thinking of other events, nothing about this one. Though. She must admit that she was rather nervous, considering the older of the three boys was told to be strict, she had put off meeting him until now, but her lover insisted that it was now or never. Never sounded like the more pleasant idea. With a weak knock on the door frame a shout came from somewhere in the back of the house.

"I'll get it!" The one familiar voice echoed all the way until he reached the door. A wide grin spread across his face as he leaned against the screen, "You made it! For a moment there, I thought you'd chicken out."

"Not in your lifetime, babe." She replied with a smirk and leaned against the screen as well, pressing her lips to his through the thin metal like fabric. It was warm and tasted of iron, not one hint of his regular sweet sugar filled kisses leaked through the fabric, yet it was still nice.

"Come on, get in here." He parted from the screen kiss and opened the door excitedly, rushing her inside.

"Hey, who was it?" A more manly voice sounded from behind a corner, just before the owner of the voice appeared. Not a flicker of surprise nor happiness spread across his face, obviously he had been expecting someone different, or no one important at all. Such a shame she had to let him down like that.

A kind face appeared from the side of the couch, odd place to be. This one was slender and sweet looking, but he didn't smile. No one seemed to be happy here except her lover. Gee, that sure did make her feel great about being introduced to the family. Maybe they knew. Maybe they knew how she stole him from some other broad, and how easily she had hurt him in that time period. Perhaps they would always hate her.

"Sam. This is Darry," He pointed to the muscle man who gave a curt nod, "and this is Pony. My brothers." A relieved breath escaped his mouth, perhaps he didn't want her to hear, but it was almost impossible not to with his arm around her as tightly as it was. The Curtis brothers in the flesh. Sodapop, Darry, and Pony. Each similar in looks, but obviously far from personalities. The lady's man, the daydreamer, and the muscle man. What a family to walk into.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam wasn't quite sure how to respond. Darry and Ponyboy were just staring at her like she was crazy, like she didn't belong there. Well, Darry was staring at her like that, but Ponyboy just seemed to be shying away from her, like if he took one step closer she mite bite. At this moment; she kind of wanted too. Being stared at like that was unpleasant, unwelcoming, and just plain rude. She hated it with a passion and seriously considered making up an excuse to dash through the door. It wouldn't be too hard to get out of the house, what with the screen already being torn and all. She could just pretend to be a pencil or a dog even and slip through the holes of the metal like fabric. But, of course, she wouldn't just leave Soda like that. He was counting on her to make a good impression on the boys. It was a lot to ask of her when all she'd probably get in return was sex; mainly for his pleasure. Sounds like a fair trade, huh? 

"You stayin' for dinner?" Darry broke the silence with a cough to clear his throat. 

"Long as you don' mind," her reply came out quiet, like a whimper, "I wouldn't wanna be a burden." She looked over at Soda, studying his features. He was far more relaxed than you would expect. The well structured bones in his jaw lined perfectly with his smile and his greased back long hair made his ears visible; they were red. Red with embarrassment, more than likely. He hadn't thought this through very well. All he had told Sam was that she had to come in, meet 'em, then leave. He said nothing about dinner. What a small but important detail that was left out. 

"I'll set the plates." The kid of the brothers dashed off into the kitchen without another word. Ponyboy. That was an odd name, but she liked it nonetheless. Once Soda had made a joke about the kid asking someone to be his Ponygirl; Sam got a kick out of that. She'd heard he was kind of not all there, in the daydreamer kind of way, but she had no idea he would run off on her like that. Maybe he didn't like her. That was possibly the case, or maybe he was just shy around girls. Most guys were; but a Greaser? It didn't quite fit. 

Each had given a reply and Darry dragged Soda off onto the front porch, making sure to close the door behind him so she couldn't hear. A sick feeling grew in her stomach as she was able to hear her name mentioned on their way out. Certainly she'd never be invited over again if Darry had truly disliked her this much. Oh well. She rather liked the idea of never coming here again. The presence of the house was just unacceptable. Everything was old and nothing was new except the food, it was almost impossible for her to stay in such an environment like this. She didn't fit in at all, with her white tank top and short leather skirt. The boys were all wearing baggy shirts that buttoned up to the collar and ripped jeans that fit loosely on their legs. That may be their casual clothes, but sadly, she had a different idea of casual. All she ever wore was either clothes too tight or too big. Doesn't matter, she would never be invited over again anyway, so why not wear what she pleases? 

Making her way into the small dinning room area she spun in a circle every few steps, admiring the wallpaper and decor around her. The walls were white that had turned dirty and kind of a badge color, not very attractive, even some of the cracks in the corners where the walls met had already turned brown. It was obvious that the boys knew how to clean, considering they had clean dishes, which were now neatly placed across the table, but they seemed to be lacking in the more feminine sense of cleaning; obviously. With one last spin she slipped on a loose tile and sprawled to the floor, forcing herself to fall on her knees in order to prevent injury to her butt. Smart idea, right? I mean, no one wants to walk around with a bruised butt for a couple of days, hurting your knees was so much easier, and a lot less humiliating to explain. Giving a grunt she slammed her fists against the ground muttering foul words. 

"Whoa, are you alright?," Ponyboy came dashing in from a small pantry closet and knelt down beside her, offering out his hand, "I was just getting' some napkins and I heard a loud THUMP. What'd you do?" 

She cracked a smile and took his hand. "Just some dancin'." 

"You oughtta be more careful, uh..Sam, right?," He looked dumfounded, "These tiles'll gettcha when you least expect it." With a careful tug on her arm, he pulled her up and pulled a chair over for her to sit on. 

"You're tellin' me this now? That one jumped out at me just a minute ago, I could've died." 

Ponyboy laughed weakly and propped her leg up, dabbing at the now torn skin with a napkin. Her knee was sore, and she could barely move it, but by the way he handled her, she couldn't feel any pain besides the stinging she was getting from the dabbing. Hopefully the new flesh would form before she returned to work on Tuesday. She didn't exactly feel like wearing a band-aid to work, certainly not around the pigs she worked with. "Say, kid, you like me, dontcha?" 

"Uh, well...I don't know you." He shrugged and threw the napkin away before walking into the other room. 

Life had two kinds of people. The kind that you get a long with, and the kind you don't. Ponyboy was in the middle. He had helped her, then denied her his approval. What was she to think of this? There was no possible way that she could actually understand whether he liked her or not. She tried asking, but that failed, she'd simply have to win him over. The simple things like buying him presents, taking him places, blah blah blah. Stuff no one cares about. A creak sounded from the living room, then wood hit wood as the door closed; Darry and Sodapop appearing on the inside of the house. Sam dashed into the living room, kind of skipping it looked like, due to her now injured knee. 

"Dancin'?" Soda grinned at her entrance and crossed his arms over his chest. That's when Sam noticed that Darry had his arm over the boy's shoulder, not an angry hold, but a pleasant one. Darry was smiling. Darry was smiling. It was the first time since the, what, ten minutes that they've known eachother. What a miracle; the talk possibly went well and Sodapop had convinced Darry about their relationship. 

"Just a lil' bit."


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't long until everyone was situated at the table; Darry at the farthest end like where a dad would sit, Ponyboy to the left of him, Sodapop at the other end just like where a mom would sit, and Sam was situated awkwardly in between Ponyboy and Soda. Their table wasn't all that big, and it was pretty rectangular, so the edges just about pricked you every time you tried to swoop by. She would know; She'd already jammed into it about once or twice. With a shy smile she watched as Sodapop handed out the food. Pancakes, eggs, and something she had no idea what it was. It look like french toast soaked with a bunch of brown sugar and whip cream. Oh, yum. Sam should've expected something like this, considering Soda loved experimenting with food and he sure did have a sweet tooth. Maybe she could regurgitate it later in order to prevent the extra fat. 

Placing himself back in his seat, Soda jabbed a fork into the pancakes first, then followed the eggs, and finally he smeared his little fork full of food in the gooey substance that surrounded the, what used to be, toast. He'd most certainly have a stomach ache later. "Go ahead, take a bite, you'll love it," He swallowed the food and offered an excited grin, "Promise." 

"You sure 'bout that?" Sam looked around at the other boys who were eagerly tearing into their plates. She felt like an idiot for not idiot. What right did she have to question his cooking? Well that could be the first amendment, since freedom of speech was included. But in his house, and him being her lover? She should love it. In fact, she should worship it like a man worships Venus. Now that was simply absurd, as well as an exaggeration. 

"I would hope so," He pouted, "I worked real hard on it." 

Instead of replying she scraped up a fork full of everything, just as he did and shoved it in her mouth. Sam simply couldn't stand the pouting she got from him, it broke her heart as well as bothered the hell out of her. He was adorable and anything he did could control her. It's like she wasn't even a woman anymore, but an object, or one of those house wives who desperately reach out for their husbands every need. In the action she took, everyone stopped. She'd exhibited unladylike manners at the dinning table just to please her boyfriend. So sue her. Now her mouth was full and she could barely smile at all without anything falling out of her mouth. So, she just sat there, partially ashamed of her false actions and humiliated. Some first impression, huh? 

A loud laugh broke out between the three boys which made her nearly fall out of her chair. Soda flew his head back, Darry pounded a fist against the table, and Ponyboy flew his head forward missing his plate just by a bit. An uproar of excitement had just escaped from one brother to the other. I guess they were right when they said the only one thing that could drive a man crazy was a woman. Well that and food, cars, beer, porn, maybe even a guy. Now that you think about it, there's a lot of things wrong with that saying. Guys go crazy over just about everything girls don't. Suddenly the laughs began to echo in her head, as she was pulled from her thoughts, until they were almost too loud to bear. Sam nearly stood up and covered her ears, but that would make her seem like a nut case, instead she swallowed the food and grinned; looking in every direction, just to make sure she didn't miss a single corner of the room. It'd be a shame if the clock in the corner got left out. 

Calming down, Darry took a napkin to his face and wiped the corners of his mouth, before talking loud so he could talk clearly, "So..Sam, where'd you meet Soda?" 

"Oh, well, I was just..walking around, and suddenly BAM!," She threw her hands in the air as an explosion gesture,"He was there." She shrugged, letting her arms fall back down into her lap. 

"Great description. You should write a book." Ponyboy grinned and stuffed his mouth with eggs, twirling the remainder on the plate with his fork. Although he possibly said that to be as mean as possible, the kindness in his voice was still detected. It was probably because he was young and all, being 16, his voice hadn't exactly managed to get much deeper. Probably something wrong with him; medically that is. 

The next ten minutes of the conversation flew by. Sam hardly even remembered the questions they asked her, it's like they completely escaped her head once she answered them. Where do you work?: "Jump Street, Police Officer." What's your entire name?: "Samantha Lilian Reese." Where do you live?: "In the area." Do you care about Soda?: "Yes, I love him." Do you want kids?: "No." Are you on birth control?: "No." Are there any family diseases we should know about?: "None that I know of." And last but not least, everyone's favorite; What's your family like? Sam froze during this question. It was the last of all questions for tonight and she could hardly stand it. Her family was dead, killed in an 'accidental' car crash, only her and her older brother Anthony were alive. The bum and the cop, two arch enemies that had no contact with each other whatsoever, they couldn't even stay in the same room as each other. Instead of describing her hate relationship with her one surviving brother she listed the names of her siblings, (Anthony, Susan, Drake, Lily, Rose, Christopher, William, Victoria, Wendy, Richard, Isabelle, Matthew, and Beth) said nothing of her mom and dad, and told them about the crash. 

By now Ponyboy had disappeared from the kitchen and was off in his own bed. Darry was the only one really listening to Sam's little back story, considering Soda had fallen asleep with his head on her shoulder. Darry really was a nice guy, stern but nice. His face wasn't very pleasant, it made her feel like at any moment he would just break out in a fit or something, but if you looked into his eyes you could simply tell that he was a bit of a sweetheart. Not like Pony and most definitely not like Soda, but I the football guy kind of way. Like when you see a jock checking out his girl, or in the movies when the bad guy gets the girl. Yeah, that kind of look. But it was just the slightest hint. 

"You sure are an open book, huh?" Darry spoke in a hushed voice, seeing as though everyone else was asleep. 

"'Course I am. What's the purpose in trustin' someone if you can't tell them everything?" 

A serious smile spread across his face as he stood up and stacked the plates from dinner up together and placed them in the sink, "Man, the kid's got a lot of work to do in the mornin'." Darry gestured towards Sodapop who was now drooling a bit from the side of his mouth. Sam hadn't noticed 'till now, but it was nearly 2 in the morning on Sunday. She hadn't planned on staying so late, but she sure was glad she did. It was nice talking to all three of them, although, Ponyboy didn't really seem like he was all that interested in her. All during dinner he just offered up small smiles, shy looks, and side glances. The kid sure did know how to give some mixed signals. 


	4. Chapter 4

Flailing and screaming, Ponyboy shoved Jim off of him, reversing the position. With just a few swings at the boy Pony was already out of breath; damn, he forgot to bring his inhaler. Ever since his little accident before and after the big rumble that had taken place a few years back, Ponyboy had to carry around an inhaler due to lunge problems caused by his smoking addiction. Now he was regulated to only two a day, maybe three if Darry was in a good mood and Ponyboy didn't look like he was going to have an attack. Everyone, even he, forgot that one little detail. Pulling away from Jim, Ponyboy threw his fist back and accidentally punching the dumbfounded Roy. Soon enough all three were toppled into a pile and tussling, a little bit rougher than he would have liked. 

Fresh grass and dry dirt filled his mouth as Roy pressed down on his head, smothering his face in the ground. Pain surged through every fiber of Pony's being and little bits and pieces of dirt made their way down his throat to find their way into his acid pool everyone called a stomach. A voice shouted from the distance and he was saved; the weight was taken from his body and he was dragged from the ground. Brisk hands fluttered over Pony's shirt and pants, the mud and grass being torn away from the fabric. Pony could just hear the tiny yelps of pain as the meant to be lovers, lint and dirt, were ripped away from each other. It was terrible to part with his newly made friends. No worries, they would meet again soon. 

"What're you boys doin' out here?" A voice came from behind the shadow of the tree. It was unidentified, no one could tell what it was. It was almost like Pony's incident with Roy; he had no clue what it was. 

"Oh, nothing, just-" Roy and Jim both bolted off into the great expanse of grass and trees. Although this was the lot, trees were still pretty popular in this area. Pony loved it sometimes. When the weather was warm and he just needed to go somewhere. This was the place to go. It was just so nice.. 

"Hey, kid, I think your friends just left you." The figure took a step out from behind the tree and smiled. Bright teeth flashed across the face, practically blinding him, and dark black hair that blended with the sky cupped her face perfectly in a marvelous bob cut. She was gorgeous; but familiar. He had no idea where he had seen her, but everything about her seemed welcoming. A hand was offered, but Pony denied it. She wasn't a cop; just another person lurking outside in the night. How had she disguised her voice so well? He could of sworn it was a man at first. Not like she was manly or anything. 

Ponyboy licked his lips and hitched his thumbs in his pocket, looking down, "They weren't really friends anyway." 

"Then why were you with them?" 

"That's my business." 

"I can tell." 

She hadn't asked who he was or anything. Maybe she already knew, but either way, Pony wanted to know her. For the past couple of years or so, Pony had noticed girls became more and more attractive every day. Their short skirts, smooth legs, and curved hips, they just made his head go around. But he had never seen anyone like her. He wanted her to step out farther so that the moonlight could hit her face and reveal her identity, but there was no budge. Instead Ponyboy took a step towards her, she moved back and grinned; this had turned into a game. One step after another, they had made it all the way until they were about 5 other trees down. Shit; her face still wasn't showing. What kind of game was she playing? Suddenly with no warning at all, the girl dashed away. Ponyboy wasn't able to catch her face, or anything. She was just..gone. The mystery girl that was. Interesting. 

Walking home, Ponyboy rubbed all over his chest and arms. He had forgotten how cold it really was outside. He couldn't get the image of that girl out of his head. She was a black haired beauty, kind of like Snow White, "Skin as white as snow, cheeks as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony.", such a beautiful description for his mystery woman. She needed a name, though. He couldn't just go around saying that he met a girl and had no clue what her name was. He liked the reference of Snow White. So it was final. His mysterious princess would be named Snow White, or maybe even Cinderella. It was a combination, something like Snowella? Cinder White? Cinder White. That was nice. 

Five minutes before midnight he reached the house and found that Darry was snoozing on the couch and Soda was no where to be seen. Hopefully he was in the room, Ponyboy wanted the comfort of his warm embrace and the bliss of his presence. But sadly when he entered the dull room, there was no Soda. Ponyboy was stuck sleeping alone for the hundredth time. Where could the guy possibly be? Sam had work and specifically told him to stay away. He lied down on the bed, once again and closed his eyes. 

"Ponyboy. Ponyboy?" 

He turned over on his side, "What?" His eyes weren't closed anymore, but everything was pitch black. Nothing was noticeable. The blankets, pillows, and mattress was gone. He was just lying on the wood frame that supported the bed. What was going on? Lips met his and a faint light switched on across the room. Pony tried to pull away but something kept him there. A muffled scream formed in his mouth once the face appeared before him. 

An entire face made completely of ashes from a fire place crumpled before him and neatly piled themselves over a see through glass sheet set on the floor. What was this trickery? Whatever it was, it was really fucked up. He reached down and picked up the tab, wiping away the ashes with the back of his hand. White words were smeared across the glass, he tried looking closer but when he looked through the glass, the entire room lit up from the other side. His eyes went wide and he pulled away from the glass; everything went lack. He looked through it again; everything lit up. Deciding to leave it that way, he began scanning the room, it wasn't his room, or any room he had ever been in before. Stacks after stacks after stacks of papers and files filled the room, leaving no space to walk. A small broke TV hung in the top corner of the room and blared static noises as a small bright white cat trailed over the papers leaving purple paw prints. He was utterly speechless. 

Maybe this meant he was getting a cat. 

That's when the girl from that night popped up. She was laying over the papers, fully clothed, but her legs were spread completely open. She was expecting someone; rose petals lined around her body and small candles surrounded her. What was happening? Then..a man appeared. He touched her. He touched her. They kissed. Kissed. 

He woke up. 


	5. Chapter 5

The jokes that Two-Bit told were entertaining. Much more entertaining than watching the boys tussle outside, or even watching Mickey Mouse on TV. Okay, maybe she took several peeks at the show during their conversation just to see what was going on. On several occasions he tried to wrap an arm around her and sway back and forth; he claimed it was part of the joke, but like Ponyboy had said; he really digged blondes. Sam could dig his side burns, they were so long and original she just wanted to rip 'em off and wear 'em as a costume or something. That was kind of rude, but it was true, they were fun to look at and they made his face look skinnier than it possibly was. In shorter words; they made him look cute for a wise ass. 

With a grin, Two-Bit pointed to the TV once Mickey got hit the face with what looked like a pie. She had no idea they still had cartoons that used pies as a joke. It reminded her of clowns, but then again, this was the 80's; stuff like that was funny. It wasn't long until the program ended and the anchorman appeared on the screen spreading word about a fire that took place God knows where. The screen flickered a few times until it went entirely blank; Two-Bit couldn't stand to watch 'grown-up' channels, so he turned it off. 

"So tell me, Blondie, Why're you here?" 

"Excuse me?" Sam looked at him in confusion and scooted a bit away from him, "And I have a name, y'know." 

"Yeah, I know, but Blondie suites you a lot better," Two-Bit offered another grin and closed the space between the two, nudging her shoulder, "Y'know, why are you here? Like..why are you at this house? Don't you got your own?" 

Sam ignored his remark about her name and shooed a foul comment from her head, "Mhm. I got my own house, I just stayed over 'cause Soda wanted me too. S'that a problem?" 

Before he could reply, Ponyboy came dashing through the screen door and charged off into the kitchen. Loud clangs came from the room as he threw pots and pans to the floor looking for just the right one. Within a matter of seconds it sounded like he gave up because instead he began rummaging through the refrigerator. You could tell because smells from last nights dinner filled the living room. Two-Bit jumped up and ran off into the kitchen after Pony. Minutes later they both returned into the living room with last nights dinner, cokes, some kind of meat, cake, and a whole pile worth of food. Balancing the food out, they plopped down on the floor in front of the TV and began shoving handfuls of food in their mouths. 

Sam's stomach growled in desperation and she placed a stern hand over it, hoping that it would act like a human and keep it's mouth shut. She wasn't fond of eating in the Curtis house and she certainly didn't want anyone to go offering her food, because then she'd just eat it anyways. Being polite and being rude were two different things. When at someone else's house you're supposed to be polite and accept whatever they offer you, otherwise you kindly decline and come up with an excuse to leave; because after declining something you would no longer be welcome in their presence. Ponyboy turned around a few moments later and swallowed his mouthful, offering a smile to her. He sure did smile a lot for someone who didn't like her. The gestures that followed his smile were plain and simple; come, sit, eat, and be merry with us! Sam reluctantly forced herself to slide off the couch and take a seat on the floor next to Ponyboy. 

"Might as well eat, you're gonna need all the strength you can get." Two-Bit shoved his spoon into the chocolate cake and smeared icing all over it. Surprisingly it was plain before he did that. Soda must have not completed it yet. 

Sam stared at all the food and made a disgusted face at the mixture of french toast and whip cream from the night before. "What do you mean?" It was impossibly to keep a straight face when watching these boys. They were utter pigs, simply scarfing everything in their path down. At least they didn't survive off of table scraps. That would be a shame. 

"You gotta walk home, dontcha?" 

"I drove here." 

"Oh, well excuse me for assumin' things, Miss Icandriveacar." Two-Bit leaned across Ponyboy and grabbed two cans of soda and popped them open, pouring both into his mouth at once. If only Darry were here to see this, he would have had a freaking fit. Sam knew that she was about to. She was starving and the sizzling sounds that the soda was giving as it half filled Two-Bit's mouth and half ran down his face made her mouth water. Not the fact that he was making a mess, no, no, not that. But she hadn't drunk anything all day. It was terrible. It was like dieing from thirst. Have you ever died from thirst? It's not fun. 

"Oh hush up, Mathews, just 'cause you ain't got a car don't mean that everyone else goes around bummin' people for a ride." Before he could get pummeled to the ground, Ponyboy jumped up off the ground and dragged Sam outside. He let go of her hand once they reached the porch and smiled once again. "Y'know, Sam. I think I like you." 

"Thanks, kid, I like you too." Sam patted his cheek and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small paper note. "Hold out you hand." 

Ponyboy did as told and she placed the paper directly on the middle part of his palm. His hands were warm just like Soda's and his fingers were kind of scrawny as she neatly curled them around the note. "Give Soda this, and tell him I'll see him soon." Sam let go of his hand and rushed off the porch; soon to be barricaded inside her car. Within 45 minutes she'd be home sweet home. 


	6. Chapter 6 Ponyboy's POV

Later that night the weather decided it wanted to change suddenly. Ponyboy couldn't quite tell if it was spring or winter, well, you could always tell by the times of day and stuff. But right now it felt like winter, whereas it was spring earlier. Weather was annoying; it made him have allergies which prevented him from running, or reading, or anything. Since Sam left, everything got colder, that was kind of odd. You could almost say it was 'macabre'. Oh, score, vocabulary word. 

"Sam! Sam!" Soda's normally cheerful voice came chirping from the living room. Two-Bit had gone already and Ponyboy was in the room studying. It wasn't long until Soda came into the room and threw his shoes on the floor, glancing everywhere like he expected Sam to pop out of the closet or something. Only Ponyboy did weird things like that, "Hey, kiddo, where's Sam?" 

"Hopefully at home. She left hours ago, while you were at work." 

"Oh," The disappointment not only showed in his voice but in his eyes, Pony had learned to pick up on these things and knew better than to drown on on the subject. His voice was a bit depressing but he managed a grin, "Wanna go help me make dinner 'fore Dar gets home?" 

"I'm busy." 

"You studyin', again?" Soda rolled his eyes and sulked over to the bed, flopping down onto the soft worn out mattress. The sheets gave a quiet moan of anguish as he kicked his feet around, trying to get comfortable, "You should just stick to girls and cars." 

"You've said that before." Ponyboy pulled out another book from his bag and flipped all the way to the middle, trying to find his destination. "Aha! James Monroe was the guy that created the Monroe Doctrine!" With a satisfied laugh, Pony began writing down on a sheet of paper what he sawy in the book. 

Soda sat up and shook his head happily, "Even I could've guessed that." 

"Oh, yeah?" 

"Yeah." 

"Okay." Ponyboy shut the book and finished writing a paragraph or so, before turning to Soda. He hated paying attention to other things while he was studying. It was a bother, because he could be reading something and then not understand a damn word it had said. That's when he's have to go back and re-read all of it. He just didn't have the time for nonsense like that. They had 4 main courses in school and Ponyboy wasn't allowed to fail not a one of them. For one, Darry'd skin him if he brought home a grade lower than a B, and as an athlete he had to maintain a passing grade in order to compete. It was a simple rule that had apparently been followed since the day of the dinosaurs; even the cave men had to be passing in the learning of fire or else they wouldn't be allowed to ride. "Oh, yeah, before I forget," Pony reached into his pocket and began shuffling through all the lint and old wrappers he had stored in there before he finally pulled out the note Sam gave him, "This is from Sam." 

Soda snatched the paper real quick and began mumbling the words as he read from left to right. Pony had already taken a peak at the letter, he didn't quite read all of it, but her hand writing sure was neat. It wasn't only nice and straight with proper grammar, besides accent blemishes, but it had proper grammar too. Pony 'fancied' a girl with higher education. Fancy, a word used way back when. It was on their vocabulary list, either that or he just remembered it off the top of his head, "What's it say?" Sliding the chair over to the side of the bed, Pony tried leaning over the paper to see but Soda just handed it to him and then fell back against the pillows. Instead of asking what had happened, Pony read on; 

"_Dear, Soda.  
><em>

_I've been pretty behind on all my bills lately, and I need to catch up with some debts. My banks are all on me about this crap and I ain't really ready to go into court over some over due payments and stuff. Since I haven't been workin' a lot, I decided to take on a few extra hours,what sucks is that they're all mainly on the time's you're off. Seems as though we'll just have to find a time to see each other, but it'll just be for about a week or so. I can't wait to see you again. I love you and I'll miss you.  
><em>

_Forever and always, Sam."  
><em>

He set the note down on the bed next to Soda and bit down on his lower lip, he bit it so hard that a few drops of blood leaked in between his teeth. The taste was strong and bitter; filled with iron. But instead of spitting it out or something, Ponyboy sucked on the now sore skin. What do you say to someone who was completely sad for all the wrong reasons? Yeah, they couldn't spend time together for a while, but she had a good reason. Besides, they had spent every other second of the day together; it was about time they got some sort of break. Secretly, Ponyboy kind of liked the fact that she wouldn't be around to see Soda. Sure, he liked her and all, but she was stealing his one source of comfort away from him. Besides Darry, Soda was all that Pony had that he could actually relate to anymore. Since Johnny died, Ponyboy hasn't really had a true friend or anyone to talk to. Sure, Roy was pretty nice, but he was a Soc. You could never REALLY trust a Soc. Especially not one like Roy; he nearly made a move at Sam earlier that day. The kid could not be trusted. Ponyboy would have told Soda everything, but with Sam around, Soda just wasn't around anymore. It hadn't been this way with Sandy. Soda was almost always around, 'cept when he wanted to go out or something. Sandy never took Soda from them. 

Then again, in a way, Ponyboy liked Sam. She was smart, pretty, and had good sense in character. She was the whole package deal, it was kind of like going to DQ and ordering the combo meal, except without all the grease and gross stuff. Her hair was a real soft blonde, and it smelled of vanilla. That surprised him, most girls like smelling like strawberries. There was just something about strawberries. Most of all, Ponyboy like how many times she hurt herself. Not that people getting hurt was fun, but just seeing how much of a klutz she was, it was like watching a sitcom on TV. He could get all his jollies from it. Also, he liked her touch. When she had handed him the note, she actually took the time to curl his fingers around it and everything. Her skin was real soft and surprisingly cold. It was nice. That meant that when her and Soda held hands that it'd never get sweaty between their palms because the temperatures would just even everything out. 

"She's gonna be gone for a few weeks." Soda's voice came from behind hidden hands, "You know what that means?" 

"Uh..that's she's goin' to be gone for a few weeks?" 

"No. It means no sex for a few weeks." 

"Is that all you think about?" Ponyboy slid the chair back over to the desk and began tapping his pencil against the smooth wood. Tip tap. Tip tap. 

Soda tore his hands from his face and sat up, grinning widely, "No, I just like messin' with ya'. Anytime the word sex is brought up you get all..girly." 

"I do not." 

"You do so, and you know it." 

"Alright, alright, now hush up. I gotta get this paper done before Darry gets home." Ponyboy stopped tapping and went back to writing, concentrating on his every word while Soda laid back down onto the bed and began rolling around in the sheets trying to find a way to amuse himself, without interrupting Pony. 


	7. Chapter 7 Ponyboy's POV

It wasn't long until Ponyboy finished the paper and Soda had ran off into the kitchen. The paper he had to write was only supposed to be a page and half but it only took Pony about 45mins to write three pages worth. The topic was a drag, but it was so easy he couldn't resist the urge to over achieve. Now that he was 16 he had moved school's and everything; high school and all. He was considered a 'fishy' amongst the upper class man who liked to torment the newbie's, he didn't mind it though. The academic part of school such as homework and tests wasn't as easy as he expected, but he managed to get by with all passing grades; he kind of had to. It was social standards that worried him. Everyone digged girls, cars, and sex whereas he digged sunsets, movies, and books; everything was topsey turvey at this school. Girls in middle school thought it cute for a guy to be more intact with his feminine side and guys didn't really care because no one but Ponyboy was like that, now girls thought it was queer for a guy to act in such a manner and guys perspective didn't really change much because they were so clueless to everything. 

The TV blared some junk about football and monster truck racing as Pony leaned back against the couch and studied the ceiling. Each dot on the ceiling was different. None of them were the same, not even the one's right next to each other. It was impossible to count each of them, but Pony could tell there was a lot considering the ceiling was full of them. They didn't match the wall paper. The wall paper was a dirty color whereas the ceiling was a bright white besides the red splatter that traveled from one corner to the other. He remembered when that got there, he was about ten or eleven and Soda decided that it would be funny to shake up about five _Big red_'s and open them all at the same time, of course the gang helped him in the act. Surely someone must've gotten in trouble, right? Well, once the hurricane of soda set off everyone evacuated the room and left Pony standing like an idiot drenched with the substance; that's when Darry came home and blamed him. 

A thump came from the front door as it was slammed shut and Darry stood just barely in the doorway, cursing underneath his breath, "Dang wind nearly closed the door on my foot," He snarled and plopped down in his regular chair near the couch, "Hey buddy, how was your day?" 

"Same as always." 

"And what's that?" 

"'Don know, you tell me." Pony shrugged and looked away from the ceiling, lifting his legs up onto to couch in a more comfortable position. 

Darry rolled his eyes and began pulling off his work shoes; it was a good thing his feet didn't stink, otherwise Pony would've jumped right off and ran to his room. Nail up boards and everything so no one could enter unless they crawled through the window on the opposite side, "Why can't you just talk to me? I'm tryin' to be nice." 

"I am talkin', Darry. See," Ponyboy pointed two fingers to his mouth, stretching it in every way possible, "I'm talkin'." 

"Not enough." 

"What's that mean?" 

"Well," Darry pressed a hand against his forehead and sighed, "since Johnny died-" 

"We agreed never to speak of that, again. We went to the funeral, everything. It's over." Ponyboy buried his face in his hands after pulling his knees up to his chest in a cradling position. A depression cloud covered the small light of joy in the back of his brain and shut him down completely. His heart grew ice cold and stopped beating; if only that were the truth and not an exaggeration. Pony hated it when anyone mentioned Johnny or Dallas. It brought back way too many memories and he wasn't exactly stable enough to handle the death perfectly. Can you blame him? How would you feel if your best friend, the one person who understands you, was ripped from your life? Would your world crumble or would you just shrug it off? If you'd shrug it off then you're a complete ass; no wonder fate would've taken your friend away. 

Instead of saying anything else, Darry stalked off into the kitchen and didn't ever bother to look back. Good. Ponyboy didn't look up nor did he want to. He hated everything and everyone in that split moment. Normally it took him some time to go into such a depressing state of mind, but recently his hormones and what not have been acting up. Finally his voice was deepening and he had taken an interest in girls; neither of these were great changes, but they indicated that he was finally maturing. Goodbye childhood and hello being a man. It really sucked, being a 'late-bloomer' and all. It sucked even worse that he had no one to share it with. Sodapop could tell, and so could Darry, but there was no one there to walk him through it. Darry tried giving the sex talk, but Pony already knew everything. Except how to put on a condom; Soda demonstrated that part. But he needed EMOTIONAL support and writing in a diary wasn't going to help him with shit. 

Now he wasn't hungry, so he sulked off into the bedroom and closed the door quietly so no one could really tell he left. Maybe a little nap or something would clear his thoughts. He stripped off his shirt and piled the pillows into a large stack of three before finally plopping down into his new formation of bliss. His hand lingered over his torso area and he relaxed every one of his muscles as the comforting warmth of the bed engulfed him and swallowed every fiber of his being. Soon his eyes fluttered closed and revealed his thoughts to pure darkness; nothing could be seen nor thought of. His mind was blank at last and he was free to drift off into much needed sleep. 

A soft rocking woke him and he bolted straight up, clinging onto the blanket for protection. His eyes searched the room but he couldn't see anything; maybe he was still sleeping and had just woken up in his dream. That's when he noticed the figure standing at the corner of his room. What was this thing? It moved closed, causing the floor to creak. Whatever it was, Pony didn't want to find out. The pounding of his heart echoed throughout his mind as the thing took another step towards him, making the floor give the same torched creak it did the first time. It had managed to sweep over to the corner before Pony opened his eyes. Was it human? Sweat began to form around the edges of his hair line and his knuckles turned pale white from how tight he gripped onto the covers. All his muscles tensed as the creature threw itself towards the bed, Pony flew back and hit his head against the wall in a quick reaction. Suddenly a shrill noise surrounded the room and Ponyboy's throat began to throb; he had started screaming as loud as possible. Quickly a normal human hand reached out and covered the boy's mouth to prevent him from further interruption. "Shhh!" 

He stopped screaming and took deep breaths from his nose. 

"Oh, yeah, sorry." It removed it's hand from the boy's mouth and dashed over to the light switch, flipping it on. Ponyboy's eyelids instinctively shut themselves and managed to see the bright orange light from behind his eyelids. For some reason it reflected off differently when your eyes were closed. "Listen, I was wondering if you wanted to head off to the lot. Sound cool?" 

Ponyboy opened his eyes and froze. He knew that voice, he knew that face, he was surprisingly scared of that face. Why was it here? Where had it come from? How did it manage to get in without Soda or Darry seeing it? That's right; they were out tonight, some sort of show down at the Rodeo that they were just dieing to see. Jeez, if only they were home this whole frightening incident wouldn't of happened. "Roy, what're you doin' here? What time is it?" 

"About eleven and I got bored." 

"That's a dumb reason." 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Me and Jim were thinking about meeting in the lot. He said to bring you along, you down for it?" 

"No." 

"Oh come on, Pony. Don't be such a douche, it's just one night. Promise you'll be home before curfew." 

"Fine. Just let me get dressed, is it still cold outside?" 

"Ever been to Iceland?" 

"I think you mean Greenland." 


	8. Chapter 8 Ponyboy's POV

Ponyboy quickly threw his clothes on while Roy was paying attention to some old papers on the floor. He didn't quite understand how the kid got in, normally Soda and Darry would make sure to close the door when Pony was home alone. It just wasn't like them to leave him like that. What if Roy had been any other Soc and had weapons and..and..DINSOSAURS? What if the kid had all these things? Ponyboy could have died. Note to self; Include Dinosaurs on this week's fictional essay. It was freezing cold once they stepped out onto the porch. A brisk wind snapped at Pony's face and nipped at the flesh covering his ears and cheeks. Soon enough his skin had turned a light shade of purple and his ears were a sick pale color. Of course, Roy didn't care and just kept dragging him along. The weather was terrible. Watch, tomorrow it'll be so damn hot you could boil an egg on the sidewalk. 

"Um..what's Jim want us out here for anyway?" Pony spoke through clenched teeth and shivered some more, rubbing his hands together to keep warm. He'd forgotten a coat, again. 

"I got a deal for him." 

"Deal? As in..drugs?" 

"Don't forget beer, knifes and maybe even a tattoo if we're lucky." 

"I'm goin' home." Pony turned on his heel like a soldier would and began shuffling his way back to the house, the wind blowing hard on his back, forcing him a long with it. Before he could reach more than a feet or two away, even with all the mighty wind power, Roy grabbed onto his shoulder and flipped him right around. He need not say anything more, because at that moment; Ponyboy was his bitch. A tight, surprisingly warm around hung over Pony's shoulder as the two made their way to a largely shaded area right underneath a tree. The spot was great for dealing, but really bad in this kind of weather. It was like every breath he took absorbed no heat whatsoever and sent ice cubes down his throat and into his organs. Funny thing was, it was probably only a few degrees above 60. That wasn't as cold as you would expect. 

Just below the tree, Jim relaxed comfortably against the bark with his feet crossed on thr ground in front of him. Ponyboy couldn't stand Jim. His hair was too abnormally curly and his face had no freckles. What kind of curly haired ginger didn't have freckles? Sure it's stereotypical but, that's just the way most ginger's looked. Pony knew better than to judge, it was mean, but he could tell Jim was a pot head from the beginning. There was no guessing or anything. His clothes always reeked of smoke and teeth were awfully brown, anyone could tell that he did some sort of drugs, only an idiot would say he didn't. 

He was finally released and sent to stand off to the side by the tree, just opposite of Jim. How could he have been dragged into this mess? Cigarettes were one things, drugs were another. Cancer stick's kill you slowly with cancer or something like that, whereas drugs could kill you just like that. Maybe an allergic reaction or some shit like that; you never know if it's pure or not. 

"Give it to me." Roy held out a demanding hand and nodded curtly. 

Jim reached into his pocket and Pony immediately looked to the other direction. He would not be a witness to something like this. They could be called to court and everything. A bag rustled a few cans clunked against each other and the deed was done. He felt sick to his stomach. Maybe he could hurl all over the stuff, preventing them from using it, then dash away really quickly to where no one would ever know. That sounded like a really well thought out plan; besides the fact that they both possibly had weapons and Roy had refused to let Pony bring anything that could be used in self defense. Damn him and his planning ahead. Hair and head met the tree trunk as Pony leaned his head back and rested against the tree. A strong whiff of alcohol struck his nose and sent some sort of vibration through his body because he actually felt warmth. 

"You guys really shouldn't be drinking. It ain't legal for you, yet." 

"Oh shut-up, buzz kill." Roy snapped, "We'll do whatever the hell we want." 

Jim smirked and took another swig of his beer, "If anyone asks. We'll just tell 'em we're warming up." 

It was hard to believe these guys were Socs. They were taking on a role that a hood would more than likely obtain if given the chance. Pony had heard something about the thrill they got out of being bad and disobeying, but maybe that only pertained to some people. He refused to reply to these delinquents. Drinking may have been 'cool' and all, but he obviously didn't need to get caught up in this. Darry'd skin him if he knew he was here right now; he should be studying or sleeping, or something more important and productive. Instead he was here with the pot head and the rebel. Real smart, Pony. Real smart. 

Cans were thrown to the floor within a matter of seconds and beer drops dripped down the jawline of Roy. You know, if he wasn't so damn attractive, everyone at school would hate him. His attitude was foul and his body smelled funny. Pony thought it was his hair that kept the girls coming, and the money, they both played a pretty good part in his popularity. 

Suddenly car lights flashed by and Ponyboy froze. The other boys hadn't seen it, but he sure did. Someone was here. The police? Probably. By now the two were so drunk that they were hootin' and hollerin' about how much of a douche Ponyboy was; Gee, thanks guys. He reached a hand up to tell them what he saw, but before it could go very far up, Jim rammed into Ponyboy knocking the breath out of him and Roy spilled a beer over the two screaming like a fucking monkey. These idiots had no clue how cold it was to be sitting in about 60 degree weather with a drunken kid on top of you and beer spilled over your clothes. Yeah, Roy, I'd like to see you come give it a go. Tell me how it feels. 


	9. Chapter 9 Ponyboy's POV

Flailing and screaming, Ponyboy shoved Jim off of him, reversing the position. With just a few swings at the boy Pony was already out of breath; damn, he forgot to bring his inhaler. Ever since his little accident before and after the big rumble that had taken place a few years back, Ponyboy had to carry around an inhaler due to lunge problems caused by his smoking addiction. Now he was regulated to only two a day, maybe three if Darry was in a good mood and Ponyboy didn't look like he was going to have an attack. Everyone, even he, forgot that one little detail. Pulling away from Jim, Ponyboy threw his fist back and accidentally punching the dumbfounded Roy. Soon enough all three were toppled into a pile and tussling, a little bit rougher than he would have liked. 

Fresh grass and dry dirt filled his mouth as Roy pressed down on his head, smothering his face in the ground. Pain surged through every fiber of Pony's being and little bits and pieces of dirt made their way down his throat to find their way into his acid pool everyone called a stomach. A voice shouted from the distance and he was saved; the weight was taken from his body and he was dragged from the ground. Brisk hands fluttered over Pony's shirt and pants, the mud and grass being torn away from the fabric. Pony could just hear the tiny yelps of pain as the meant to be lovers, lint and dirt, were ripped away from each other. It was terrible to part with his newly made friends. No worries, they would meet again soon. 

"What're you boys doin' out here?" A voice came from behind the shadow of the tree. It was unidentified, no one could tell what it was. It was almost like Pony's incident with Roy; he had no clue what it was. 

"Oh, nothing, just-" Roy and Jim both bolted off into the great expanse of grass and trees. Although this was the lot, trees were still pretty popular in this area. Pony loved it sometimes. When the weather was warm and he just needed to go somewhere. This was the place to go. It was just so nice.. 

"Hey, kid, I think your friends just left you." The figure took a step out from behind the tree and smiled. Bright teeth flashed across the face, practically blinding him, and dark black hair that blended with the sky cupped her face perfectly in a marvelous bob cut. She was gorgeous; but familiar. He had no idea where he had seen her, but everything about her seemed welcoming. A hand was offered, but Pony denied it. She wasn't a cop; just another person lurking outside in the night. How had she disguised her voice so well? He could of sworn it was a man at first. Not like she was manly or anything. 

Ponyboy licked his lips and hitched his thumbs in his pocket, looking down, "They weren't really friends anyway." 

"Then why were you with them?" 

"That's my business." 

"I can tell." 

She hadn't asked who he was or anything. Maybe she already knew, but either way, Pony wanted to know her. For the past couple of years or so, Pony had noticed girls became more and more attractive every day. Their short skirts, smooth legs, and curved hips, they just made his head go around. But he had never seen anyone like her. He wanted her to step out farther so that the moonlight could hit her face and reveal her identity, but there was no budge. Instead Ponyboy took a step towards her, she moved back and grinned; this had turned into a game. One step after another, they had made it all the way until they were about 5 other trees down. Shit; her face still wasn't showing. What kind of game was she playing? Suddenly with no warning at all, the girl dashed away. Ponyboy wasn't able to catch her face, or anything. She was just..gone. The mystery girl that was. Interesting. 

Walking home, Ponyboy rubbed all over his chest and arms. He had forgotten how cold it really was outside. He couldn't get the image of that girl out of his head. She was a black haired beauty, kind of like Snow White, "Skin as white as snow, cheeks as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony.", such a beautiful description for his mystery woman. She needed a name, though. He couldn't just go around saying that he met a girl and had no clue what her name was. He liked the reference of Snow White. So it was final. His mysterious princess would be named Snow White, or maybe even Cinderella. It was a combination, something like Snowella? Cinder White? Cinder White. That was nice. 

Five minutes before midnight he reached the house and found that Darry was snoozing on the couch and Soda was no where to be seen. Hopefully he was in the room, Ponyboy wanted the comfort of his warm embrace and the bliss of his presence. But sadly when he entered the dull room, there was no Soda. Ponyboy was stuck sleeping alone for the hundredth time. Where could the guy possibly be? Sam had work and specifically told him to stay away. He lied down on the bed, once again and closed his eyes. 

"Ponyboy. Ponyboy?" 

He turned over on his side, "What?" His eyes weren't closed anymore, but everything was pitch black. Nothing was noticeable. The blankets, pillows, and mattress was gone. He was just lying on the wood frame that supported the bed. What was going on? Lips met his and a faint light switched on across the room. Pony tried to pull away but something kept him there. A muffled scream formed in his mouth once the face appeared before him. 

An entire face made completely of ashes from a fire place crumpled before him and neatly piled themselves over a see through glass sheet set on the floor. What was this trickery? Whatever it was, it was really fucked up. He reached down and picked up the tab, wiping away the ashes with the back of his hand. White words were smeared across the glass, he tried looking closer but when he looked through the glass, the entire room lit up from the other side. His eyes went wide and he pulled away from the glass; everything went lack. He looked through it again; everything lit up. Deciding to leave it that way, he began scanning the room, it wasn't his room, or any room he had ever been in before. Stacks after stacks after stacks of papers and files filled the room, leaving no space to walk. A small broke TV hung in the top corner of the room and blared static noises as a small bright white cat trailed over the papers leaving purple paw prints. He was utterly speechless. 

Maybe this meant he was getting a cat. 

That's when the girl from that night popped up. She was laying over the papers, fully clothed, but her legs were spread completely open. She was expecting someone; rose petals lined around her body and small candles surrounded her. What was happening? Then..a man appeared. He touched her. He touched her. They kissed. Kissed. 

He woke up. 


	10. Chapter 10 Ponyboy's POV

The smell of cake wafted from the kitchen and filled Ponyboy's lungs as he sat up on the bed, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand. His head hurt and he wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but Darry had already called him out for breakfast. Last night was simply crazy, and the sad thing was that Pony couldn't remember any of it except for Cinder White. He had to go to school tomorrow, so he was going to dress up in his nicest clothes, and hopefully be able to find her. Possibility was that she was some exchange student or something cool like that; foreign children were always cool. 

"Pony!" Darry shouted from the kitchen. "Get your butt out here, breakfast is gonna get cold!" 

"Coming!" Ponyboy threw the covers over to the side and dashed out of his room, only to run straight into Soda. Ponyboy toppled over and landed smack into the ground. Rubbing the side of his butt, he looked up at Soda who had burst into laughter, "Where were you last night?" 

Sodapop gripped onto his hand and pulled him up, grinning, "Here. Where were you?" 

"I was here. Which means you weren't." 

"Yeah I was. Geesh, Pony. We were here all night. Don't you remember?" 

"I don't remember anything. Can you draw me a picture?" Ponyboy took a seat ion the couch and crossed his legs in the formation of a pre-schooler. Had he really forgotten EVERYTHING that happened last night? 

Sodapop took a seat next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, "Well, let's see. You headed off to bed pretty early, then Roy showed up a few hours later, we let him in and you had a spazz attack before dashing out of the house with him. We tried to get you to wear your jacket, but you threw a fit so Roy had to drag you outside. What happened out there ain't none of my business but you came home shiverin' and smellin' like alcohol. Next thing I know is that you're shoutin' at me to get out of the room and slammin' doors in my face." Soda shook his head at the end and shrugged, jumping off of the couch and into the kitchen to help Darry finish up breakfast. 

Pony's head started throbbing and the room began to blur. None of that had really happened, had it? Had he even met that girl? Right now would be a good moment to have a dog named Toto and Aunt named Em so he could wake up and say that they ain't in Kansas no more. Dang, Dorothy, I sure know how you felt when you were surrounded by all them munchkins. A hand, his hand, searched his face and wiped away the sweat that began to form on his forehead. Mickey mouse blared on the tv and the couch cushions had never felt softer. He pushed his head as far back against the fabric as he could and closed his eyes, waiting for his brothers to return to the room. Of course, they appeared only moments later and plopped down on the couch, causing Pony's head to throb even worse. Oh how he wished that the sweet bliss of death would over come him at this very moment and take all his pain away. Soda snuggled up to Pony and tried to convince him to eat while Darry sat near the arm rest and kept to himself by silently glaring at Soda in order to get him to shut up. 

"I ain't hungry." 

Soda whined, "But, honey, it's your favorite! Chocolate cake with an egg and bacon wrap. Come on, tel me you ain't hungry." Soda tried wafting the smells of the food up Pony's nose before the kid brother took off into his room. A bicker broke out between Soda and Darry, but Ponyboy barely payed any attention; he didn't really care. 

Taking a seat at his desk, Pony pulled out his sketch book and began drawing. The image of his perfect girl was still embedded in his head and he wanted to jot it down quickly as possible. Once he had gotten over being a writer, Pony had taken up art classes and began visiting some public museums. Art was such a well known way to express one's feelings that he couldn't just pass up the opportunity to get his opinion out there. Besides, in today's society, an artist makes almost twice the pay that a writer does, considering all the cartoons that are being put into production. Then again, writing and drawing go hand in hand. But the real reason was that Pony needed some extra curricular activities to fill up his school schedule in high school; they offered so little interesting ones. It seemed to have come in handy though, because by the next 10 minutes he had a perfectly shaded portion of her eye done. Then the next eye. Then the mouth. After an hour past he had at least 60 details drawn, 10 minutes spent on each. He had decided not to draw her hair, because with all the shading and smudging techniques he was using his hands were already dirty as it was. 

"Pony." Soda called from outside the door and leaned against it. Pony could tell because it creaked like it was dying. Without warning, Soda walked in and shoved his fists in his pockets, looking innocently at his kid brother. "Listen, kid, I'm really-" His sentence trailed off whenever he saw the picture Pony had been drawing. All there was to it was eyes, a nose, and her lips, even though she was perfection, there was no need to stare. "Geez, Pony..W-Who is that?" Soda took a step forward and grabbed the book, admiring it. 

"Just some girl." 

"Do you know 'er?" 

"I met her last night." 

"So, is that why you were out so late?" Soda hovered his finger over the paper for a moment before setting the picture down on the bed. Ponyboy had never seen him appreciate art so much, or even glance at anything relevant for so long. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was hot, and a girl; every guy digged a sweet looking girl. 

"Nah. W only met for a few minutes, she avoided me most of that time anyways." 

Soda grinned and picked up the picture again, "Got rejected, huh?" 

"It's not like that." Ponyboy looked down shyly and began fiddling with his fingers. Was it like that? Certainly not. He didn't even know her name; had he known her name, now, that would've been a different story. Then he would have made a move and everything, that is, if he actually had the nerve. 

"Then what's it like?" 

"She's just a girl." 

"That you're drawin' pictures of?" 

"Jealous?" 

"Not one bit. But, I do think that you're fallin', kid. And I think you're fallin' real hard, too." 

"I ain't fallin' for nobody." 

"Ponyboy's in love!" Soda began doing this odd little dance with a teasing smirk spread across his face. 

"Oh you're gonna get it, Curtis." Ponyboy pounded a fist against the palm of his hand as a warning, when Soda continued to dance and chant, he lept out of the chair and jumped on Soda's back. Normally Soda could of held him up, but with him being 16 now, Soda immediately fell to the floor and yelped in surprise. The two tussled on the ground until Darry came in and pulled them apart. Ponyboy's face was flushed and Soda was grinning like the idiot that he was. 

"What the hell is goin' on in here? I can't leave you two alone for one second!" 

"He started it!" Soda shot an accusing finger at Ponyboy and Pony couldn't help but smile. A laugh broke out between the two as Darry wrapped his strong arms around the both of them. Good thing Soda hadn't told Darry about the girl; that'd be a whole 'other sex talk that Pony would have to go through. Damn how he hated those. Instead, the three went into the living room and sat down on the couch; Darry snuggled to his arm rest, Soda shoving cake down his throat, and Pony daydreaming as usual. 


	11. Chapter 11 Ponyboy's POV

The rest of the day carried on quite fast. Ponyboy pretty much locked himself in the room from that point on; school started back up tomorrow and there were a few pages of homework he had yet to finish. Sodapop had left earlier in the day to go and visit Sam at her house, nobody knew when he'd be back, but they were certain it wouldn't be until tomorrow. Darry just stayed in the living room and watched television as he called out to Ponyboy describing the responsibilities of having to do his work before hand instead of rushing to get it done the night before. Blah blah blah, Ponyboy had heard this all before, besides, by the time Darry realized that he was doing work, Ponyboy was already finished.

"Hey, Pony!" Darry called from in the kitchen this time.

"Yeah, Dar?" Ponyboy had already escaped the room and made a mad dash for the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, he tried out several different ways he could comb his hair, but none were all that different due to the amount of grease he had slicked through it. He was nervous about seeing that girl tomorrow, and he absolutely wanted everything about himself to be perfect enough for her. Just like she was perfect. And someone who's perfect, deserves nothing less. Even though he was nothing but a hood, he had a career going for him, something that couldn't be said about that many people in his position.

"Soda tell you where he was going?" Darry walked over the bathroom door and leaned against the door, peeking inside every so often; thinking Pony hadn't recognized him.

"Yeah."

"Well...?"

"Oh. He's heading over to Sam's place."

"I thought she told him to stay away?"

"You think that's going to stop him?"

"No." Darry walked into the living room and grabbed his coat off the couch. "I'm gonna go see where Steve and Two-Bit are. Stay here and don't answer the door to nobody." He then left, locked the door and everything.

Once he heard the door close Ponyboy peeked around the corner that lead to him and Soda's room. Even though nobody was home, he couldn't help but feel like one of the brothers would walk through that door just as he did something wrong. Soda was preferred. With a moments hesitation, Ponyboy gained up just enough nerve to head into his bedroom without glancing at the front door. Quickly, but carefully he began rummaging through some of Soda's things. It wasn't quite like him to be so disrespectful, but…remember, this girl was special. Soda was always great with the girls, and maybe if Ponyboy had a little bit of Soda in him then he'd be able to be just as great. Just maybe.

He grabbed a few shirts, well, one shirt and the one and only cologne that Soda actually owned. Soda liked to go with the real natural smell, so he didn't buy cologne very often. Ponyboy held the bottle up in front of his face, observing it for a moment. The liquid had gone down a considerable amount; Soda did seem to smell a lot better lately. Ponyboy shrugged and pulled the small cap off, dabbing the moist end against his wrist and neck. The smell was overwhelming but sweet; pretty amazing. Once that was taken care of, he grabbed one of the plaid shirts he pulled from Soda's closet and threw it on. The fabric was a bit loose, but Ponyboy was real skinny so he didn't mind looking like he had a few extra pounds on his body.

Slicking his hair back in a better manner, Ponyboy licked his lips and paced around the room. _What're you doin', Pony? You know she ain't gonna be there waiting. You know that sneaking out is bad. That you'll get in trouble. What about your homework? What kind of example will you be setting for your kids in the future? You're crazy. _

"Yeah, I may be crazy. But….she makes me crazy. And if that's a valid enough reason, then I'd rather be crazy for the rest of my life. Call me insane, because, well, I've lost all my sanity." Pony began talking aloud and chuckled oddly, pressing the palm of his hand to his forehead. Maybe he really was crazy. And not just 'crazy in love'. Crazy. Like, literally crazy. The kind of crazy with no cure. But he didn't care…kind of.

Well, yeah, he cared. But, it was about time he was spontaneous! Did something wild and noticeable. Maybe she liked that kind of thing. He sure hoped she did, because he was about to be as wild as wild could possibly get; if that's even possible. Well, sneaking out wasn't wild but hell, who cares? He sure didn't.

Walking out the front door, Ponyboy pulled on the collar of Soda's shirt, forcing it to cover the back of his neck. It always seemed to be cold outside in Tulsa, and as usual, Pony never even thought to bring a jacket with him. He made his way down to the park, observing as all the street lights passed. Several were flickering and gave no sign of ever being fixed in the future. The government was just to cheap to care about the safety of those here; it didn't matter, it's not like anyone really paid any attention to where they were going anyways. Cold gasps of wind nipped at Pony's ankles, arms, and face as he trudged onto the grass that covered the park land. It wasn't an unfamiliar place, nor was it a friendly place, but it was some place to go, right?

The soles of his shoes neatly dug into untrimmed vegetation, becoming accustomed to the feeling. Ponyboy's body was trembling, not from the cold but from the nervousness. Did he really think that she was going to be there? No. But it was at least worth a try.

Snap.

Crunch.

Crumble.

Snap.

Crunch.

_Squish_.

Noises echoed from the ground all up until Ponyboy stopped walking. He stood beneath a street light, staring out into the mass of trees that lay just beyond the park. It'd be a real nice spot to stop and look at the sunset some day. Well, besides that, he was really hoping that she'd be there. Maybe she lived in the woods or something, like one f them runaway kids in the books. People gotta get their ideas from somewhere right? It was useless standing there, so he popped a squat on the sidewalk near the grass; didn't want any stains or Darry'd notice.

A few hours past and Ponyboy had crippled into that spot, his butt making a permanent imprint on the sidewalk. His face was tiredly buried into his knees as he held them close to his knees. Life was beginning to dissolve into a pitiful nothing; she had stood him up. Well, not literally, but it felt like she had by the way his heart was breaking. A single tear made it's way down Pony's cheek as he looked up to see someone walking towards him. The figure was carrying shoes and seemed a bit tired, the way it was walking. Pony quickly swiped at the tear that had rolled itself down to his jaw line; ain't nobody gonna see him crying.

"Pony?" Shoes hit the sidewalk as the person jogged up to him, making rough noises as his skin scraped against the obviously painful floor. Warm arms stretched around him as he began to sob, allowing his face to smother into the person's face.

Through gasping breaths, Pony managed to murmur, "Soda, you ain't gonna tell Darry are you?"

"You don't worry about a thing, kid. I got you. Don't cry." The brother began wiping at Pony's face, not only to clear the tears but to keep his cheeks warm.

Ponyboy had been sitting there longer than he originally thought. Thank goodness Soda had found him when he had, otherwise he probably would of fallen asleep where he sat. Pony allowed himself to go limp in Soda's arms as he lifted him off the floor in a cradle position. Soft, soothing, whispers came from Soda as he carried Pony down the street with the shoes rested between Pony's legs. Sodapop was, and always will be, Pony's savior.


End file.
